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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 1893623" data-attributes="member: 18280">(Continued From Last Post)On the way out of the dungeon, the party successfully repelled an ambush by the demon-worshipping faction. They then met up with some of the psion gnomes in the dungeon with whom they'd developed an alliance of sorts (though both groups originally started on the wrong foot when they first met, resulting in some gnome deaths).  They did have a few violent conflicts with this faction. But the party did try to make it up to them by helping to pay for some of the gnomes to be raised later. After that, relations were a bit tense but some characters on both sides tried to champion the idea of cooperating.The party decided to trust the gnomes because they wanted their help getting the artefact out of the city above secretly.  The gnomes had a flying ship waiting at the docks for just this purpose.  They did talk about what they were going to do with the artefact briefly. The gnomes admitted truthfully that they wanted to bring it back to their venerable dwarf lady messiah (which the party met at the beginning of the campaign, fought briefly and remained dubious about) while the party stated their general intention of carrying it through a portal into a fairy realm to ask a PC's fairy-queen/goddess' opinion about it. They never really resolved these opposing plans but did generally agree that their first concern was getting the artefact safely out of the city.The group didn't cast any divination spells to determine the general truthfulness of the gnomes.  They did do a sense motive check when one of the gnomes told us his plan. He was really clear what he was going to do, about the crates and getting us onto the ship, etc.  The PC in question rolled a very high check.  Although the gnome still seemed sincere, the PC still didn't trust them, and has been the voice of dissention against the gnomes from the beginning.The party has several members with very high Charismas:  20, 19, and 18.  They made their intentions very clear to the gnomes.  They spoke to them kindly and reasonably, with at least one Diplomacy check of 30.  It was the contention of at least one player that “If we can't win people over to our side, no one can.”The group did consider putting a pseudodragon familiar and/or a sprite cohort into the box but decided that there was just wasn't enough spare room in the crate for that.Finally, the gnomes convinced the party that the only way to safely get on the ship and out of the city was to have all the party members (along with the artefact) placed into wooden crates and carried onto the ship.  It is unclear as to whether this was originally a PC’s idea or a gnome’s; posts vary on this detail.According to Ambrus, it went something like this (paraphrasing):PC1: We could have the gnomes carry us aboard in crates.PC2: Alright but you and me should be locked in the same crate along with it. (two medium sized characters with the chest-sized artefact).NPC: Whoa, there is a maximum size of crate that can be loaded onto the ship.PC2: Well how big?NPC gnome: Not much bigger than this (mimes a cube roughly 3-4 ft big)PC1: Are the crates ready made? Is there any flexibility on their size?DM: They have some crates ready made but they also have a supply of boards & nails and are able to build them to fit.(Although the NPCs are apparently sincere at this time, one wonders why a larger crate cannot be loaded onto the ship.)PC2: I know, we can have your (PC1) pseudodragon and the sprite cohort (PC3) inside the crate with the artefact.PC1: No it won't fit with them.PC2: Why? they're Tiny.PC1: Yeah but they still take up room in the crate. There won't be much room in the crate aside from the artefact.PC2: No they're Tiny. That's nothing.PC1: No it'll be too tight for them. There's no room.PC3: Sprite, in what crate do you want to go?NPC sprite: With you of course! (he's madly in love with PC3).PC1: Besides, I'll need to have my pseudodragon with me in my crate because [convoluted story-specific reason].NPC: Well, you all could be in these crates for as long as a day. They'll be cramped. The big folk (the medium sized PCs) should only be loaded one to a crate. You'll need room to move a bit and we'll load you up with some waterskins, bread and cheese and a chamber pot. Though the others (the small sized PCs) can fit in the same crate if they want.PC2 and PC4 (the small sized PCs) decline this offer.NPC: You'll have to be perfectly quiet the whole time.PC3: How long will we be in there?NPC: We'll load you in the crates tonight after dark. You'll then be carried to the docks during the night, probably wait there for a bit until you're loaded into the cargo hold and then you'll have to stay put until well after we've left port, which should be sometime tomorrow morning. It could be as long as 24 hours.PC3: But how will we get out?NPC: We'll break you out when it's safe.PC3 remains dubious about this plan.PC1 then gives the gnome a series of instructions on how his crate must be kept close to the artefact crate at all times and how they should be carried together and loaded onto the ship simultaneously, etc.(Continued Next Post)</blockquote>

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